(WiPC/IFEX) – The following is a WiPC Special Action for International Women’s Day, 8 March 1999. International Women’s Day falls on 8 March 1999. The WiPC has traditionally highlighted the cases of women writers and journalists who are facing persecution and who may benefit from publicity on their cases. A number of Centres have requested […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – The following is a WiPC Special Action for International
Women’s Day, 8 March 1999.
International Women’s Day falls on 8 March 1999. The WiPC has traditionally
highlighted the cases of women writers and journalists who are facing
persecution and who may benefit from publicity on their cases. A number of
Centres have requested examples of women writers under attack in response to
media interest, and this year we are highlighting the cases of four women
journalists: in Bulgaria, Pakistan and Kuwait. These cases serve to
illustrate the differing forms of attacks upon free expression in three very
different circumstances.
You may send appeals on these cases, as recommended in the case outlines
attached, and to promote their cases in your national media on and around 8
March Women’s Day. Photograph of the Kuwaiti prisoner, Ibtisam al-Dakhil,
and the Bulgarian journalist, Tatiana Vaksberg are available on request.
Unfortunately we have no photos of the other cases.
Please do not hesitate to contact us should you require further information
about these or any other case.
Pakistan (Afghanistan): Under Threat
Najeeda Sara Bibi
Najeeda Sara Bibi is an Afghan journalist and women’s rights activist who
has been living in exile in Peshawar, northern Pakistan, for the past eight
years. In recent months she has been repeatedly harassed and attacked by
unknown individuals who are thought to have links with the Taleban army in
Afghanistan. She is among a number of journalists based in northern Pakistan
who have been threatened or attacked in the past six months,
apparently for expressing opinions opposed to Taleban policies. The Taleban
authorities themselves have not claimed responsibility for these attacks.
Pakistani authorities have reportedly not taken serious measures to
investigate these attacks.
On 6 October 1998 Najeeda Sara Bibi claims to have been fired at by two
unknown assailants while en route to a local market in Peshawar. She escaped
unhurt. Three months previously, she was confronted by a group of six
unknown men who ordered her to give up her profession. She then received a
number of threatening letters; of these, one she received on 25 September
1998 was written on the letterhead of the Afghan interior ministry, and
another dated 4 October 1998 was reportedly signed by the chief of the
Taleban intelligence agency.
Najeeda Sara Bibi is currently working for the BBC World Service as a
part-time researcher on a Pashto/Persian programme entitled “Educational
Drama.” She formerly worked for the Pashto daily “Hewad.” She is the sole
bread earner for her family, as her husband, a Kabul university professor,
was hanged in Afghanistan during the rule of Babrak Karmal. Bibi now fears
for the life of herself and her children, and has asked for police
protection.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the Prime Minister:
investigation into these attacks, and provide Najeeda Sara Bibi with
effective police protection
Appeals To
His Excellency Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
Islamabad, Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Fax: + 92 51 920 5532/ 920 8890/ 920 1545
Bulgaria: On trial
Yovka Atanassova and Tatiana Vaksberg
Yovka Atanassova and Tatiana Vaksberg are among over two hundred journalists
who have been brought to court on charges of “defamation” in recent years.
Although none have been imprisoned as yet, there has been widespread
condemnation in Bulgaria of the tendency for high level officials to turn to
the criminal courts to silence those who criticise them.
Atanassova is the editor in chief of the daily “Starozagorski Novini” based
in Stara Zagora. An experienced journalist of 15 years, during the past two
years, Atanassova has had 12 lawsuits brought against her, of which five
have resulted in convictions totaling 14 months in prison. She has been
charged under Article 146, 147 and 148 of the Criminal Code which can lead
to a maximum of three years in prison for insult and libel. She is currently
free on appeal.
All the charges against Atanassova relate to articles published in her
newspaper on alleged corruption. She believes that she has been found guilty
“not because the facts were not true, but because of the way I talked about
the people – people in high positions”.
Most recently, Vaksberg, a journalist for Radio Free Europe, is under
investigation for possible abuse of articles 146 and 148 of the Criminal
Code. Her “crime” was to accuse the Bulgarian Prosecutor General of allowing
criminals to act with impunity in a radio broadcast in October 1998. He
promptly ordered that she be charged with “insult” and “degrading the
honour and dignity of another”. An investigation was ordered on 14 January
and, should judicial hearings proceed, she could face up to two years in
prison.
These and other cases taken out against over 200 Bulgarian journalists have
led to protests with over 4,000 people signing a petition in support of
Atanassova. There is deep concern even within the Bulgarian parliament with
fifty six of its members calling for revision of the law stating: “It is
unacceptable that at the end of the 20th century journalists in Bulgaria can
be subjected to sanctions contradictory to… the protection of human rights
and freedoms”.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the President:
Tatiana Vaksberg and all other journalists currently charged under Articles
146 and 148 of the Criminal Code
of any person for the legitimate practice of their right to freedom of
expression
Appeals To
President Petar Stojanov
President of the Republic of Bulgaria
Fax: + 3592 987 5601
Kuwait: Life imprisonment
Ibtisam Berto Sulaiman Al-Dakhil
Ibtisam Berto Sulaiman Al-Dakhil, aged about forty, is a journalist
currently serving a life sentence in prison in Kuwait.
Before the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, she was a journalist working for
the Kuwaiti newspaper “al-Qabas.” During the Iraqi occupation, however, the
paper was shut down and replaced with an Iraqi-controlled paper, “al-Nida.”
Although she did not wish to collaborate with the occupying forces, she was
apparently given no option: she was detained twice, and by her own account
was told that if she refused to cooperate, she and her children would have
to face the consequences.
After the Iraqi defeat, the Kuwaiti government initiated many trials against
alleged “collaborators,” including members of “al-Nida”‘s staff. Those who,
like Al-Dakhil, were not Kuwaiti by birth faced especially severe sentences
(Al-Dakhil was once married to a Kuwaiti but is originally from Iraq). In
June 1991, a martial law court sentenced her and five of her colleagues to
death. This was later commuted to life imprisonment.
Amnesty International (AI) has condemned the trial as “manifestly unfair”:
defence lawyers were denied access to their clients and some are believed to
have been convicted solely on confessions extracted under torture. All were
denied the right of appeal, in contravention of international standards for
due process.
In 1996, four other women who were sentenced to ten years each in the same
case were amnestied. Al-Dakhil, however, remains in Kuwait Central Prison;
apparently, all Iraqis thus detained, if amnestied, are to be deported to
Iraq – a fate which al-Dakhil wishes to avoid. She is allowed to telephone
her family regularly and is reported to be in reasonable health. She is an
AI Prisoner of Conscience.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to his Excellency:
al-Dakhil an early release from prison, and additionally requesting that,
once amnestied, she not be required to leave Kuwait, her adopted country,
against her will
Appeals To
His Excellency Shaikh Jaber al-Ahmad al Sabah
Amir of the State of Kuwait, Kuwait
Fax: + 965 539 6434
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
